Protect Access to Patient Care
Urge U.S. Senators to Sign DMLR Pledge to Enact Medical Liability Reform

A National Crisis:

The Medical Liability Crisis: Patient Access to Medical Care is in Jeopardy

• Doctors are more reluctant to perform complex and high-risk medical procedures, such as pediatric orthopaedics and spine surgery.
• Patient access to emergency and trauma care is at risk.
• Doctors are moving to states with a more favorable medical liability climate.
• Trauma centers and medical providers are closing their doors.

Cause of the Crisis: The Current Medical Litigation System is Broken

• Individual medical liability awards are on the rise.
• Increased awards and settlements mean insurers are paying out more than they are collecting, necessitating steep premium increases.

All Americans pay the price because rising liability costs drive up the cost of health care.

Only a Federal Solution Can Solve This Crisis

This is a National Crisis that Requires a National Solution:

Today, the availability of healthcare should have no borders, and it should be equal from state to state. Across the states, we have a patchwork of liability reforms, and because of this uneven system, access to healthcare varies according to the liability climate of each state. Every patient, every citizen, in every state deserves equal protection under the law, both in compensation for negligent injury, and in timely access to healthcare. The undisputed truth is that one way or another, this problem now touches nearly every American and a federal solution is therefore a national imperative.

AAOS, as a founding member and as Chair of Doctors for Medical Liability Reform (DMLR) believes that Congress should pass meaningful Federal medical liability reform legislation that:

• Allows unlimited economic damages
• Imposes reasonable caps on non-economic damages modeled after effective State reforms
• Allocates damages in proportion to fault.
• Ensures that the bulk of any award goes to the patients, not attorneys.
• Establishes expert witness standards.
• Limits frivolous lawsuits.
• Prevents preemption of effective state reforms.
• Adopts the “British rule” of loser pays court costs.

Will there be a specialist available to treat you in a medical emergency?
U.S. Senators must sign the Doctors for Medical Liability Reform Pledge
to enact comprehensive medical liability reform.

For additional information, please contact Kathryn M. Pontzer, AAOS Washington Office, at (202) 546-4430